Two obvious silver linings exist: The worst of the salary-cap carnage will be over after this season, and the new terms, on their own, are pretty reasonable. That adds up to $64-plus million over four seasons, and there's a decent chance that Sacramento won't have an All-Star nod or a playoff appearance to show for that sizable investment. Trading for Gay required that the Kings pay him $17.9 million last year, $19.3 million this year and roughly $27 million over the next two seasons.

By drastically cutting Gay's average annual value and including an opt-out in 2017, this extension represents a dramatic improvement for Sacramento, but the Rudy Gay Experience is still going to cost the Kings. Gay's opt-in ensured Sacramento would keep one of the league's most inflated contracts on the books for a second season. The Kings were reportedly keen on keeping Gay this summer, when he had the opportunity to opt out of his current contract and an early extension is likely the byproduct of those ongoing talks. The Fundamentals: The brilliant dawn of DeMarcus Cousins